Speaker 1: 0:00

It's sort of a gut feeling for me. It's something that I want to feel good about what I do on a day-to-day basis and have a reaction that when somebody in the community says your shelter-in-arms did this for my husband, child, family, whatever it is that I was a part of, that really does give me a physical warm feeling warm feeling.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Welcome to America's Healthiest City. On ESPN Richmond 106.1, part of the Mike King Biz Media Network, you can catch us each week at 6 am here on the network. Welcome today, kelly Delcampo-Merix from Sheltering Arms Foundation. We're going to get this right. Vice President of Philanthropy. And we're today at the hospital campus of Sheltering Arms Institute. I'm really excited about this interview. This is a longstanding institution here in our community and there's a lot of great things happening here that we'll get into. But before we do, if you're new to this program, please check out AmericasHealthiestCitycom to learn about our 10-year community partnership to make Richmond, all of the community, the healthiest in America by 2033.

Speaker 2: 1:08

It will take all of us working together to make that happen and you can find out what you can do on that website Without further ado. Kelly, thank you so much for having us here.

Speaker 1: 1:17

Thank you so much and for agreeing to talk with us. I'm excited about it.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Yeah well, I started this interview the same way with everybody Native to Richmond. Or did you move here? And if you did, what brought you?

Speaker 1: 1:33

I moved here right out of college and I moved here to go to medical school at what was then MCB Medical School, and that lasted about a year and a half, but I was here and I stayed, so I've been here now almost 30 years.

Speaker 2: 1:42

And I had the you and I know each other, but I had the pleasure of looking at your long resume of a fundraising experience that has been a big part of your career, and is that what you pivoted to after deciding that med school was not for you?

Speaker 1: 1:56

It is. It is I had for all of my teenage years. Into college, I always intended to go to medical school and then, when I decided that wasn't for me, I knew I wanted to be somewhere in the field helping people it's a very vague term and somewhat fell into this with the first job I got. And again, 30 years later, I've always been in the nonprofit world fundraising, community relations, volunteer services, all of those things linked in.

Speaker 2: 2:23

So I had the good pleasure to be a guest instructor at VSU earlier this week and I spoke to some young people and that was one of the things that I heard them say is I know I want to help people. I can't say that I felt that when I was young I don't know that I was like I want to go out and help people is my job. So I'm curious like what does that feeling feel? Like? Like how could you describe that to people that may not necessarily know what that seems?

Speaker 1: 2:52

You know, it really is sort of a gut feeling for me. It's something that I want to feel good about what I do on a day-to-day basis and have a reaction that when somebody in the community says shelter in arms does good work, or your shelter in arms did this for my husband, child family, whatever it is that I was a part of, that really does give me a physical warm feeling and that was something I always knew I wanted Small town. I grew up in a very small town. The town doctor was literally my next-door neighbor who made house calls. My mother is a teacher, very involved in the community, so it was just what you did. You pitched in. So it was a natural part of what I wanted to do once I grew up.

Speaker 2: 3:40

And you've helped a lot. I know that you've worked for a lot of organizations helping them to raise funds and you've been here for some time, so tell me a little bit about what that arc has looked like and what have been, maybe, some highlights of that work, because raising funds is a different way to help people. It's not direct necessarily.

Speaker 1: 4:01

It is. You're right, it's not direct. I'm so appreciative of anybody who's a direct caregiver or direct provider in any way, whether it's a clinical or. I worked at the Red Cross for years, a great organization, really, advocacy. It was a very short time there doing special events, which is not my strength, but quickly moved to the Red Cross and you know, I know, I think, because of my need to help people, that feeling there's also the flip side of that of becoming too attached and I think that's the piece that I couldn't do. I couldn't be a direct care provider or a social worker or a case manager in that sense, because I don't think I could ever leave it at work and I think that would be. It would not be healthy for me to be able to do that. So, sort of stumbled into this way of being a part of fundraising. It's very strategic. I get to know all aspects of the organization and really figure out where can we help out. And then the flip side of it is helping a donor, Because part of what I feel like I'm doing is really tying a donor's vision and values with an organization vision and values and playing a bit of matchmaker. So is this what you want to do, Is this what makes sense? And then there's this pass through to the donor of you know they're not getting anything tangible, but they're getting a feeling for what sort of difference they're making. So I was Arthritis Foundation, Red Cross.

Speaker 1: 5:41

I was at the Red Cross September 11th, which is obviously a life-defining moment for everyone, and that sense of I think we all who are of a certain age remember where you were that day and how you reacted and how those around you reacted. And so many of my friends and family were at home watching all of it unfold. And at the Red Cross, we were at the local Red Cross. There weren't things that we were directly doing, but we were the recipients of trying to help people who wanted to do something and didn't know what they can do. And that's a very powerful place as well, to feel like you're helping them in a way, feel like they are contributing to make something better, even in a situation where there was nothing that could be done at that time. So Red Cross and a number of hurricanes, and then local disasters, fires, house fires were a big part of what we did at the Red Crawl, serving people who had lost their homes and all their items.

Speaker 1: 6:54

After that I went to what was then the Central Virginia Food Bank, which is the predecessor, to Feed More, one of the organizations that went into it. And again, just an amazing. I was very lucky, blessed growing up. That I can say in retrospect. I can remember the years as a very young child where, you know, my mom made hot dogs and special dishes that we thought were the fun dishes but probably were because they were trying to stretch a dollar and I didn't truly feel anything significant. But seeing the greater Richmond community, seeing the places and there are some places, it's not the entire region, it's these pockets. But that's grown too grown to who those individuals are. So that was, that was a wonderful experience to be part of that, but also to help them set them up on what they needed to succeed, because they were very much grassroots at the time.

Speaker 2: 8:00

That's a very well-funded organization.

Speaker 1: 8:02

It is. It is. I like to say I had a little, you know, when I, when I started, it was a little bit more of the knock on the door how much money has come in, can we turn the lights on? They were very much doing what was good for this community but needed to grow. What they were doing. That's where, for me, it was fun to come in and set up those systems. Systems are not very exciting, but if you don't have a database, if you don't have a story to tell, if you don't have all of those things in place, then people don't really know what the need is. So that was fun for me to be able to do that. And then completely switched gears to a retirement community, westminster, canterbury, which couldn't be more different. But there we had about 15% of the population were on financial assistance who received a partial or full scholarship to be able to live there, and that was primarily what I was doing to raise money for that.

Speaker 2: 8:57

Well, I can certainly appreciate a couple of sides to that. As a person who cared for my father before he passed away as a young person, I have tended to avoid that direct service route. And you know experience I had when I was in Connecticut I had the opportunity to turn a nonprofit around as a board president. That was, you know, falling apart and had a lot of problems and I found it to be kind of depressing sometimes to be in the service environment of that organization because it just dragged me down. But I've always found that sort of more administrative side that you know how do I provide the supports, how do I make the system work better for everybody involved, because we are all connected. So I can relate to that a lot.

Speaker 2: 9:41

When we come back, I want to talk more about Sheltering Arms Institute and the Foundation. We'll take a quick break and then we'll get down to that. You're listening to America's Healthiest City on ESPN Richmond 106.1 FM. You can catch us each week at 6 am on Thursdays here on the network, but you can also catch us on ESPNRichmondcom and LinkedIn Live and YouTube Live. We can now also have this streamed on our podcast. Any place you get your podcasts, so please subscribe there. Today I am at Sheltering Arms Institute with Vice President Kelly Del Campo-Merix and we're super excited to talk about this wonderful organization and all the great work that they're doing here, but also the great work that you're doing in the community, raising money for very important causes. I want to talk more about why we're wearing purple today, so let's start there and then let's talk a little bit more about the Institute.

Speaker 1: 10:35

Sure. So this week is National Physical Rehabilitation Awareness Week, so nationally, across the country, and it's really an opportunity to recognize the important work that physical rehabilitation plays in the health of everyone. You know, physical rehabilitation can touch on so many different aspects of somebody's life from you know an athlete unfortunately tearing their ACL and needing surgery and then needing rehabilitation to then life altering conditions of motor vehicle accidents or gun violence that result in spinal cord injury or brain injury. Spinal cord injury or brain injury. We organizationally and across the country want to celebrate the important work that our teams do to make a difference for those individuals and then the overall health of our community. So purple is one of Shelter-at-Arms Institute's colors, so today is the last day and all of our team members, you'll see, are wearing purple. So I'm very glad to see you wore yours as well.

Speaker 2: 11:35

I got the memo and so I also understand that you guys are the number one rehabilitation hospital in Virginia, number 19 in the United States, so definitely accolades worth illuminating. What's it take to be number one it?

Speaker 1: 11:50

takes a lot of people, a big vision and a lot of hard work. So we Shelter-in-Arms Institute Shelter-in-Arms as an organization is 135 years old, but Shelter-in-Arms Institute as a clinical operation opened in 2020 in the height of the pandemic, and our goal from before we opened was to be a top 10 rehab hospital in the country. So our collaboration with VCU Health is really important in being able to do that. So we work together. We have a research arm. That's a distinction for us, but it's really it's our patient outcomes that's what ultimately matters. And so one of the things I didn't realize before coming to Shelter-in-Arms and our vice president of our chief rehabilitation officer always says this is that we are a big data organization and you know I'm a people person, so sometimes I'm not big data people, but in tying those together, we look at the results. We look at the results daily of how we are, our key performance indicators, which bottom line are are our patients improving and how are they improving relative to other rehab hospitals? So that's how we come into play with being the 19th in the country and first in the state. I'm excited. Last year was the first year we were eligible and we came in at 29th last year and moved up 10 this year.

Speaker 1: 13:20

But it really is it's team, it's everybody who's involved from the point of somebody being able to come into the hospital, because there are 10 people at least who are involved in that process before they ever get here. And then all the team members who are part of it once they're here, from environmental services and dining services. I mean, if you're not getting the nutrition that you need, you're not going to be able to physically do the work that has to take place here. And then, of course, all of our therapists physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists they each play a role. And then nursing, because therapy is three to four hours a day and it's intensive and it's what's going to make a difference in their outcome.

Speaker 1: 14:10

But the other 20 hours of day it's nursing. Who's there, who's making sure you're okay and you have what you need, and that sort of thing. And then you know I like to think on my side you know that what you see on this campus, what you see in our gym, the technology, the research, the broader emotional and psychological support, are things that are funded through donors because they're just not covered by insurance. And so all of those things together you mix them up and you have a good strategy and you end up number one in the state.

Speaker 2: 14:48

I want to talk about the numbers. You know nonprofits. That's an important part of it. So what's the? What's the big budget Like every year? What do you guys do you know that? From a fundraising perspective or an organizational perspective the organization.

Speaker 1: 15:01

I should know this and I don't know this. Off the top of my head, it's about $100 million. That's a large number $75 million.

Speaker 2: 15:08

It's still huge, either way for all of us listening and sitting here. Both of those numbers are huge, either way for all of us listening and sitting here. Both of those numbers are huge. And some portion of that, like you said, is funded by donors and some portions insurance and maybe some other fees that come in here and there. But if you didn't have that fundraising capacity, if you didn't have those donors coming to you some of them every year I would think you wouldn't be able to do this.

Speaker 1: 15:36

No, we really wouldn't. I mean we would have a good hospital we would be able to do I mean our teams are great and they would do good things but the difference in being able to support patients long term and their family members and such, it really is part of philanthropy and being able to do that. So just building this hospital, it was a $100 million project and $50 million of it came from philanthropic support, some of it from what we've had over time built up. We made a gift of $25 million off of what's been given over many, many years and then we asked the community to match that with $25 million. So this would look very different if you didn't have that philanthropic piece.

Speaker 2: 16:21

Well, one of the things I think a lot about is you can't really, once you give people something, you can't take it away, and so I imagine that when you introduce a standard of care as you guys have here, it really raises the bar for society as it looks around at what we should have from our nonprofits and from our institutions that serve us.

Speaker 1: 16:43

It does. I think you know when our patients are here with us in the inpatient of course we have outpatient services as well but they're with us for two weeks, average two weeks. Some people are with us for months, Some people are with us for a couple of days, but they're not here because they want to be, and I think that's true of most nonprofits who are direct service providers. People aren't your clients because they want to be. Nobody wants to have to go to a food bank, but there's dignity that we can help restore for an individual or support what's already there dignity and privacy. And everybody is a person and they deserve that, whatever their circumstances are, and so I hope that we are able to elevate the level of what all of our nonprofits and, frankly, for-profits offer to people.

Speaker 1: 17:39

It's really important to us here. It's part of the patient experience and, again, as I said, the caregiver experience too, because when something happens to you, it's not just you, it's your wife, it's what other? Your family, your friends, your coworkers. So how do we support them in the community as well?

Speaker 2: 17:59

Well.

Speaker 2: 17:59

I feel, like we sometimes will forget that people are struggling with things out there, and so I commend you and your whole organization for remembering those people that need us. So it takes, I think, that intentionality and that focus in order to be able to provide that service. So I commend you. I'm going to take a quick break and when we come back we'll talk a little bit more broadly about Richmond and maybe some of your ideas for ways that we can, you know, drive collective health, and you know if there's other things you want to share about, you know, the future of the Institute. We'll have time for that too.

Speaker 2: 18:32

So you are listening to America's Healthiest City on ESPN Richmond 106.1, part of the Mike King Biz Media Network. Please check out americashealthiestcitycom if you represent a non-profit, a for-profit, a government institution or an academic institution and you want to see us become the healthiest region in America by 2033. We have a great ambassador program. It doesn't cost a penny and will help tell your story, the things that you're doing to help shape this future. Today we are at the hospital campus of the Sheltering Arms Institute and we're speaking to Kelly Del Campo-Merix, the vice president of the Sheltering Arms Foundation, the organization that works to fund this important work. So we give everybody the opportunity to inject ideas onto our ideas board, but you know, I think as somebody we'll point out the fact that you're a Leadership Metro Richmond Quest class graduate of 2023? 24. 24.

Speaker 1: 19:25

Yes, so just a couple of months out.

Speaker 2: 19:29

How is it that we're in 2024? I'm feeling like it was this year, so it's 2024. Okay, so a couple of months out, you're feeling summarily overwhelmed, I imagine, with all this knowledge that you walk away with, and so you're going to have lots of good ideas. But tell me just a little bit about that experience, because I know that other folks out there are thinking about this opportunity for themselves. What did you think about it?

Speaker 1: 19:59

Leadership, metro Richmond, was something that's been on my radar for many, many years.

Speaker 1: 20:01

I've had a number of colleagues who have participated in it, and the program itself has evolved over time as well, which I think is exciting. My first experience with it was actually when I was at the food bank and, at that time, an LMR class. Their projects were to work with a nonprofit and develop a plan. So we worked with this incredible group who came into the food bank, who really determined a new system of food delivery for us to work with all of our partner agencies, and they provided us an entire plan that we then implemented and it was something we couldn't have done without that. I mean, we were, you know, at that time, a very small organization you know few people from a manpower perspective and funding, and what they contributed to us was amazing. So you know, as LMR has now involved and you do these projects that are not very specific with a nonprofit, but you learn so much about the community and I thought I knew a lot about the community Been here 30 years I'm in the nonprofit world.

Speaker 1: 21:05

I very much engaged in other opportunities and see what's going on.

Speaker 1: 21:10

I learned so much from those monthly programs that it is still very overwhelming.

Speaker 1: 21:16

But I think the opportunity for somebody to participate in that and learn about our region, learn about the great things that are happening, learning about the challenges and how we can come together and I think the diverse group of people who are that from an age perspective, from a professional perspective background and everybody brought so much to the table.

Speaker 1: 21:47

So I think as much as the programs themselves impacted me, those connections did as well, because one of the workshops we were going through a poverty simulation and one of the members of my group had to step away for a minute and when she came back she said that scenario was me as a child, almost to a T, and she went on to tell part of her personal story. And when you meet somebody professionally who is now in, I don't know what their age is, I don't know what their age is, but an adult, a successful, a successful career adult. You don't think about where they were 30 years ago, 40 years ago, and when she described that scenario it was just an eyeopening moment for me and I think that's I think we all need to experience, that we all need to know better where somebody is coming from, how they were shaped and how you as an individual were shaped. And that's what I think ultimately is going to make our society better is better understanding of each other.

Speaker 2: 23:02

Well, you mentioned earlier the hot dogs. As a kid and I talked to my wife about the fish sticks. Yeah, you know, we often talk about who is worse off as kids because we're not really sure, because you don't always know.

Speaker 2: 23:15

As a kid. You see like the resources come in. You see that they come in from different places. But I think at the same time, even when you have had that experience and you meet other people that have had it worse off, you know better and it's tough to hear those stories. I wanted to touch on something that I think is important to point out and maybe you have a response to it. Maybe you don't, but just thinking about LMR and how, the power of bringing seven people together, you know the value of one person's time and energy is the value of one person's time and energy, but the value of seven people's time and energy is much, much greater than just seven people's time and energy. It can be amplified a great deal. So I was struck by the story about the food bank and what that impact was for you guys.

Speaker 1: 24:05

It's incredible and I hope that those team members who may not remember any of us as individuals but I hope they can now look at Feedmore and say, hey, there was a part of that success. I mean, feedmore is now getting ready to open a brand new distribution center. They're moving because I mean the unfortunate part of that is that they have to move. The need is still there, but what that group of seven people did impacts everybody who is receiving that food and that's really huge.

Speaker 2: 24:40

Well, what kind of ideas do you have brewing up there? You know whether it has to do with physical rehabilitation or just other things that you picked up on in your class, or other things that you've been thinking about throughout your career.

Speaker 1: 24:50

Yeah, I think from a sheltered arms perspective, you know where we are and where we hope to go just continues to have great impact. We're getting ready to expand Again. The hospital opened in 2020 and we've received permission to add an additional 30 patient rooms, so we will be doing that in the coming years. From our outpatient perspective, we are also investing heavily in renovating and expanding our outpatient centers, because what we know is when somebody is discharged from the hospital, they are better from the day they arrived, but they are not necessarily well or they are not 100% better and they still need. Many of them need to go to outpatient services. But those are the patients who are here in the hospital, which is about 2,500 a year. Outside of that, we serve another 10,000 people in our outpatient clinics who just go directly there. So we want to make sure that that community is supported. And then I think one of the exciting things that we're looking at internally is building more of a caregiver program, because, again, it's not just the person that it's physically happened to how life may change for family, friends, and being able to support them and educate them is so important, and I think you know all of that then pours out into our broader community and collaborating with other organizations. We do a lot of that with organizations like Brain Injury Association of Virginia and Sportable and United Spinal Association. They actually come here and do office hours, so they're meeting our patients while they are here, which is much better than you know our saying at point of discharge here's a brochure you might be interested in Sportable someday and then expecting you to pick up the phone and call them when you're ready. But when you've made that face-to-face connection and I think that's such a great model for what I want to see happen and I want to be engaged in in this community is that collaborative effort, getting out of our silos, knowing that each organization, each person, has a role to play on the team. But we've got to talk about it and we've got to understand each other and not get territorial, which is sometimes hard. I mean, I think one of the things that's really important for me and my work and in my involvement in the community is I may not be the right person or this may not be the right organization, and not to let my ego get in the way, but to actually partner with somebody and say Will can do this a lot better than I can and he's an important part of our team and doing that handoff, so to speak.

Speaker 1: 27:32

I think one of the really exciting things. I heard you earlier talking about the regional aspects of really what's changed in the last few years. You and I both have had the opportunity to be involved with Chamber, rba, the inner city visits and now the regional site visits that they're doing. I'm so excited that they've brought that internally to have one day here in Richmond where they're really learning about the community, because that's something that struck me the first time I went on an inner city visit Doing amazing things in that city and I thought we're doing those things in Richmond, Just people don't know about it. It's happening over here. It's happening over here. Let's bring people together and do that. And I'm excited to see the regional upper mobility program that they're working on. I think that's exciting and that health care, health equity, is an important piece of that.

Speaker 2: 28:24

Yeah, yeah Well, we always run out of time on these shows. There's never enough time to have these conversations. It's really important what you're doing and I appreciate you so much for sharing with us. Before we do wrap up here, I always ask folks if there's somebody out there that we need to talk to to tell their story, and I want to make sure that folks know how they can get in touch with you and what you need from the community. That's a lot of things.

Speaker 1: 28:47

That's a lot of things. So people I think you should talk to.

Speaker 2: 28:51

I've already had Hunter Lehman from Sportable on, so you can't say him he was.

Speaker 1: 28:55

And Reggie Gordon was one you said he's coming up David Wadolik and I hope I'm pronouncing his last name right who is with Feedmore. He runs their partnerships and I think that's a huge thing that they're doing. I think he'd be very interesting as well. You know, I'd love. There are some former patients of ours that I think would be great for you to talk to, that have their personal experiences, not about shelter norms although that's great but their stories and how they then turn that around and impact the community. I think, as much as we have community leaders speaking on here, when you hear from somebody who is maybe not quite as well known but who's really part of this community and has received services and has given services, returning to the community I think is so important.

Speaker 2: 29:48

Well, I'd love to take those recommendations from you, so how folks can get in touch with you.

Speaker 1: 29:53

Sure, so they can reach out to me anytime. We have a couple of great websites shelterinarmsinstitutecom If anybody needs any clinical assistance, that's the website for them. And then, from our perspective, shelteringarmsfoundationorg, and all of my contact information is on there as well, and you know, reach out to me via LinkedIn. Any way you want to connect with me, we're happy to, and we're always happy to show all shelter in arms. Rehabilitation is something people don't know about until they need it and we want to make sure the community knows it's here.

Speaker 2: 30:30

Kelly Del Campo Merrick's. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 30:32

Thank you Will For your time today. It's been great. Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 30:35

This was America's Healthiest City on ESPN Richmond 106.1. Subscribe, follow. Catch us each week on Thursday 6 am here on the network. We'll catch you next time.